In this day and age, Miss Grossenbacher, my kind, Swiss Kindergarten teacher, would have been arrested for child endangerment. Read about her crime:
Twice a year, Miss Grossenbacher would pack a bunch of students into her tiny Fiat and drive us to her parent's home in the country. There in the lush garden, her mom would serve us homemade chocolate cake and lemonade. I remember being tightly squeezed in the backseat of her car with 6 other students. Another 4 students occupied the small front seat. We were singing and excited about our outing. Back then, in the fifties, only race car drivers used seat belts, and car seats for children were not even invented.
When it came to teaching us Kindergarteners, Miss Grossenbacher should have received a medal. Not only did she introduce us to the wonderful world of books, but she also taught us how to respect our environment and how to maintain healthy eating habits.
During snack time, she always placed a tin can in the center of the table (only fresh fruits and vegetables were allowed). Apple seeds, cores, and other fruit wastes had to be deposited there. After finishing up, a student was assigned to empty the tin can outdoors in front of the big window. We were enchanted by the petite chickadees and the noisy sparrows eating our leftovers as we watched from the inside.
Every morning, arriving at Kindergarten, we had to change into house slippers. On a weekly rotation, a student had to make sure that our cloakroom was cleaned up. We took pride in our neatly looking schoolhouse.
School material had to be respected. Pencils had to be used until there was hardly anything left. Books had to be nicely stacked at the end of the day, and the tables had to be wiped down by the students.
On sunny afternoons, Miss Grossenbacher would read to us outdoors under an old, shady beech tree. Afterward, she would often turn over some small rocks, and the class could observe the tiny critters who lived underneath. We took our art material into the garden many days, and each student would find a flower, a butterfly, a leaf, or a tree to draw. These interactions with our surroundings were an eyeopener for life.
My own children were brought up in the American school system. I was amazed at how fast they became fluent readers. Academics were introduced early, and a lot of teaching was emphasized on completing tons of worksheets. What was lacking was the hands-on experiences.
Every year, when Earth Day was celebrated, my children came home with beautiful posters and booklets on saving our planet. They completed page after page on how pollution by humans causes harmful damage to Earth. But the students never participated in a park or beach clean-up. In the school cafeteria, lunch waste, cardboard food trays, and plastics were thrown into the same garbage can.
Why not assign students to help to separate the waste?
How about a class competition on who can produce the least amount of garbage in a day?
Why not allow children to develop an understanding of the natural world through play, exploration, and creative activities outside while learning about environmental causes?
Did you know that Japanese schools have no custodians? Who then cleans the school buildings in the land of the Rising Sun? It's the students who take great pride in their learning environment and do the cleaning. It is an old Japanese tradition to tidy up the classrooms after each day. Desks are wiped down, floors are swept, and pupils are even assigned to clean their bathrooms.
A few months ago, the Swiss government started to teach recent immigrants from Africa and the Middle East the code of conduct about recycling. Understandably these people had more important things on their minds than waste management. The Swiss hired translators who taught the foreigners how to separate garbage and where to drop it off.
But the most crucial teaching about caring for our planet has to be done at home by parents and caregivers.
"What should shine in your country must begin in your home", was written almost 200 years ago by the Swiss novelist Jeremias Gotthelf. He was so right!